James/Behind the Scenes
Background Information The Railway Series James is a fictional standard gauge tender locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He is the No. 5 engine on the North Western Railway. He first appeared in the Railway Series book, Thomas the Tank Engine, which was published in 1946. His last appearance was in Thomas and his Friends, published in 2011. Front of James: File:JamesillustratedbyReginaldPayne.png|1924/5 James as illustrated by Reginald Payne (1946) File:JamesillustratedbyCReginaldDalby.png|1952 James as illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby (1954) File:JamesillustratedbyJohnTKenney.png|1958 James as illustrated by John T. Kenney (1959) File:JamesillustratedbyGunvorandPeterEdwards.png|1965 James as illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards (1966) File:JamesillustratedbyEdgarHodges.png|1924/5 James as illustrated by Edgar Hodges (1979) File:JamesillustratedbyEdgarHodges2.png|1925/35 James as illustrated by Edgar Hodges (1979) File:JamesillustratedbyStephenLings.png|1992 James as illustrated by Stephen Lings (1992) File:MainJamesRWS2.png|1992 James as illustrated by Clive Spong (1993) Rear of James: File:JamesillustratedbyReginaldPayne2.png|1924/5 James as illustrated by Reginald Payne (1946) File:JamesillustratedbyCReginaldDalby2.png|1952 James as illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby (1953) File:JamesillustratedbyJohnTKenney2.png|1956 James as illustrated by John T. Kenny (1957) File:JamesillustratedbyGunvorandPeterEdwards2.png|1965 James as illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards (1966) File:JamesillustratedbyCliveSpong.png|1984 James as illustrated by Clive Spong (1984) In the Tale of the Brave DVD, the Mr. Perkins segment features a re-illustrated version of the story Thomas and the Breakdown Train where James is depicted in his television series livery. File:JamesreillustratedbyLoraineMarshall.png|1924/5 James as re-illustrated by Loraine Marshall (2014) In real-life The Reverend's first model of James was a 2-6-0 Glasgow and South Western Railway locomotive, the "Austrian Goods", designed by Peter Drummond. The Reverend later rejected that prototype on the grounds that an English engine would most likely end up on Sodor. Awdry's second model of James was based on a 1960s Tri-ang "Johnson 3F" 0-6-0; a conversion which Hornby themselves would use for the production version of their model of James, several decades later. Television Series James was introduced in the first series of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and has appeared in every series as one of the main characters since. He reprised his roles in the Railways Series from the first to the fourth series and also appeared in original stories written by various writers. He is easily described as one of the deuteragonists of the series along with Percy, and is the most prominent tender engine in merchandising. Unlike the Railway Series, he made many background cameos before he was properly introduced in the first series episode, Thomas and the Breakdown Train and was not painted black when he was first introduced. However, in the CGI special the Adventure Begins, which re-tells the events of the book Thomas the Tank Engine, James was painted black as he was in the book. Originally to be voiced by Michael Angelis in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, American test audiences claimed that he made James sound "too old". Susan Roman voiced him in the final cut, giving James a faint British accent. Keith Wickham would later take over as James in the UK and Kerry Shale in the US, the former giving James a British accent and the latter American. Rob Rackstraw would later take over from Shale in 2015, before taking the role from Wickham in 2017. Uniquely, Rackstraw maintains both British and American accents in the show's respective English dubs. Behind the Scenes Awdry's model File:JamesMkII1976.jpg Gauge 1 model James' original model was custom built with a perspex body shell and used a Märklin locomotive as a donor for the chassis and various parts. It was painted using automotive paint and lined with black and gold automotive pinstripe tape with the numbers being custom cut vinyl stickers. James' main chassis and tender wheels were taken from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 55 and the front pony truck from a bogie of the BR 78. The front bufferbeam came from the BR 78 and the rear bufferbeam came from the BR 55. The handrail stanchions were also sourced from Märklin locomotives. James' perspex model was originally AC powered as this is how the Märklin locomotives were powered. During a refurbishment, his AC motor was replaced by a DC motor to allow for easier running and maintenance. File:Jamesfirstseasonpromo.png File:JamesandPercyBehindTheScenes.png File:Rev.W.AwdryWithJames.jpg File:BrittAlcroftwiththeAwdrys.jpg File:James'ModelSpecification.PNG File:James’_Model_Side.jpg File:JamesFront.jpeg File:JamesSeason5Promo.png File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine8.png File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine9.png|James' wheels File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine14.png|James' buffer beam File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine12.png|James' funnel File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine13.png|James' cab File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine29.png|James' tender During the production of the tenth series, two new models of James were built. This was due to the original model being twenty-two years old at this point and the tight filming schedules meant there was very little room for emergency repairs."ThomasTankMerch's blogspot - Plastic or Brass?" The new models were made out of brass and equipped with a CNC machined aluminium chassis powered by a DC motor. From this point, the perspex model would only appear as a stunt double in scenes that would damage the brass models. The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eyeballs were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eyeballs would move however the crew member desired. In the tenth series episode, Percy and the Funfair, it showed that James' tender no longer carried the wires that help connect them to the body shell. When James was repainted yellow and black in the tenth series episode, The Green Controller, his original perspex body was used to not ruin a freshly painted brass model, but oddly the original perspex tender was not repainted and was paired with a brass front half. This can just about been seen in episodes of the tenth series and some behind the scenes photos confirm that the bee-style painted tender was a brass one. File:JamestheSecondBest11.png|James' brass model File:TheGreenController95.png File:PercyandtheFunfair62.png|James' tender no longer carried wires File:JamesSeason10BehindtheScenes.jpg File:TheGreenControllerBehindtheScenes.jpg Eighteen different facial expressions were known to be sculpted for James. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould. Some of James' faces were duplicated in case the crew needed a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. Two of James' face masks are owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine15.png|Happy File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine20.png|Smiling File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine19.png|Sleeping File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine22.png|Annoyed File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine18.png|Angry File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine17.png|Sad File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine16.png|Tired File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine23.png|Shocked File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine31.png|Smug File:JamestheReallySplendidEngine2.jpg|Wincing File:Thomas'TrainLadybirdRecreation2.PNG|James' laughing face in the second series... (1986, 1988) File:SleepingBeauty7.png|...which later gained some teeth from the third series all the way until the eleventh series (1992-2007) File:James'Facemask.jpg|James' tired face, during the production of the second series (1986) File:James'SmugFace.png|James' smug face, during the production of the second series (1986) File:PercyandtheSignal17.png|James' original smug face that only appears between the second and fifth series before... (1986-1998) File:ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad350.png|...his eyes were covered in Thomas and the Magic Railroad all the way until the eleventh series, designating as his sleeping face (2000-2007) File:TheTroublewithMud64.png|James' sleepy face that first appeared during The Britt Allcroft Company era... (1991-1998) File:JamesandtheQueenofSodor52.png|...later modified slightly and used as his new smug face during the Gullane Entertainment era... (2002-2003) File:KeepingUpwithJames21.png|...and last appeared in the ninth series episode, Keeping Up with James (2005) File:NoJokeforJames12.png|James with a small and recasted happy face that only appeared during The Britt Allcroft Company era (1991-1998) File:Buzz,Buzz48.png|James' horrified face that only appeared between the third series and The Great Discovery, excluding both the fourth and seventh series (1992, 1998, 2002, 2004-2008) File:Emily'sNewRoute12.png|James' concerned face that only appeared between the eighth and eleventh series (2004-2007) File:ThomasAndTheCircus53.png|James' content face that only appeared between the eighth and eleventh series (2004-2007) File:James'FaceMasksPage1.png|Page one of James' face masks during production of the sixth series (2002) File:James'FaceMasksPage2.png|Page two of James' face masks during production of the sixth series (2002) File:JamesBuzzBuzzface.jpg|James' Buzz, Buzz cross face mask in 2019 The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI and the characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion-capture animation. The physical models' moulded faces were replaced by white targets with triangles to fix a computer-animated face in post-production. James' resin faces were only used in background shots. File:ThomasAndTheBillboard13.png File:ThomasAndTheBillboard43.png File:JamesWorksItOut22.png James' gauge 1 models had gone through several aesthetic changes in the television series: * Series 3: ** His brake pipe now faces downwards. ** His pupils became smaller. * Series 4: ** His window frame lining became thinner. ** His whistle sound changed to Duck's at three whole steps and a half higher in pitch. * Series 5: ** His whistle changed back to how it originally sounded excluding "Horrid Lorry, James and the Trouble with Trees, Baa! and Make Someone Happy". ** His brake pipe now faces upwards. * Thomas and the Magic Railroad: ** His paint was given a matte finish. ** His brake pipe now faces downwards again. ** The curve on James' cab lining underneath his window became shallower. ** His pupils became bigger again. * Series 6: ** His safety valve disappeared. * Series 8: ** His eyebrows became longer. * Calling All Engines!: ** His eyebrows became thicker. * Series 10: ** His buffers were moved down slightly. ** The riveting on his front bufferbeam disappeared. ** His whistle became lower to the cab. ** His windows became smaller. ** His funnel became slightly shorter. In this photo taken during the setup of a scene from the first series episode, Thomas' Train, James does not have his coal load in his tender. File:Thomas'Train59.png During the first series, Edward was incorrectly seen wearing two of James' faces. File:EdwardwithJames'face.jpg File:EdwardandGordon54.png One of James' brass models is currently on display in Japan at the Hara Model Railway Museum. It had previously been on display at Nitrogen Studios. The other brass model was sold to an unknown buyer after it was sold by The Prop Gallery. File:JamesNitrogenStudios.png|James' model with a motion capture mask at Nitrogen Studios File:JamesHaraModelRailway.jpg|James' model at Hara Model Railway Museum File:ThomasPercyandJamesmodels.jpg The original perspex model of James used from the first to tenth series is now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch."ThomasTankMerch on Twitter" File:JamesPlasticModel2019.jpg|James' model in late 2019 (Courtesy of EDsTrainz) Gauge 3 model A gauge 3 model of James was built in the tenth series to be used alongside the large-scale models of Skarloey Railway engines, which had been used since the fifth series for ease of filming and reliability. The model was made from brass. The wheels and chassis were custom machined (CNC). The model was track powered, so pickup contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power it. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pickup contacts and went into the motor to power him. The model was also fitted with a smoke unit. The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eyeballs were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eyeballs would move however the crew member desired. Six different facial expressions were created for the model. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould. The gauge 3 model was used in the tenth and eleventh series, as well as The Great Discovery. File:FollowThatFlour10.png File:FollowThatFlour11.png File:FollowThatFlour27.png File:Duncan'sBluff62.png File:SirHandelInCharge9.png File:Ding-A-Ling11.png File:TheGreatDiscovery25.png File:TheGreatDiscovery385.png File:FollowthatFlour83.png File:Duncan'sBluff2.jpg The model was put on display at the British Museum during the 70th Anniversary. File:JamesBritishMuseum.jpg|James' model at the British Museum Close-up model File:JamesandtheCoaches37.png File:TroublesomeTrucks(episode)21.png File:TroublesomeTrucks(episode)26.png File:DuckTakesCharge53.png File:TheRunaway18.png File:OldIron41.png File:TheTroublewithMud50.png File:Buzz,Buzz41.png|Note: The roof of the cab is white File:Buzz,Buzz42.png File:BuzzBuzz22.jpg File:Buzz,Buzz52.png File:Buzz,Buzz68.png File:ThomasandtheSpecialLetter52.png File:JamesandtheTroublewithTrees44.png File:JamesandtheTroublewithTrees53.png File:JamesandtheTroublewithTrees54.png File:JamesandtheTroublewithTrees57.png File:JamesandtheTroublewithTrees64.png File:JamesandtheRedBalloon48.png File:JamesGetsANewCoat7.png File:ThomasandtheFireworkDisplay24.png File:JamesGoesTooFar10.png File:JamesGoesTooFar46.png File:Sounds(song)9.png File:AsGoodasGordon53.png File:JamestheSecondBest41.png File:JamestheSecondBest43.png File:DirtyWork(Season11)32.png File:SirHandelInCharge68.png Life-size model During the production of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Junior was supposed to be flung onto James from Diesel 10. As his gauge 1 model was too small and figurines would not work, a large facsimile of James' cab and boiler were built for the scenes of Junior on top of him. The scene was filmed with a greenscreen method, so the life-sized model and the background for filming were green. Because Junior's landing was right on top of his roof, James' whistle was absent to avoid damage to it and Michael E. Rodgers' back. File:JuniorBehindtheScenes.jpg File:ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad891.png|Note: In the final film, James' whistle is missing CGI model In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. James was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. James' model was modified: * Hero of the Rails: ** He increased in size, making the top of his boiler the same height as Gordon's. His cab, funnel and tender was also scaled up accordingly. His Gauge 1 model was originally the same size as Edward however James even points out the fact that he is now bigger than Edward in The Adventure Begins. ** The curve on James' cab lining became even more shallow. ** His eyes increased in size. * Series 17: ** He gained permanent lamps on his front and tender. * The Adventure Begins: ** He was painted in his black Railway Series livery and received external brake shoes with wooden blocks added on his rear driving wheels. Following his accident, he still had his brake shoes, but the woodblocks were replaced and he was repainted into his current livery. This change only appeared in this special and briefly in the twenty-first series episode, The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor. ** His brake pipe now faces upwards again. ** His side rods became silver. ** In his black livery, he gains lining on the rear of his tender. This disappears when he is repainted red (however the back lining briefly appears again when he dreams of being different colours in the twenty-second series episode, An Engine of Many Colours). * Series 23: ** He gained brass handrails on his cab and tender and rivets on his bufferbeams, cab, roof, tender, smokebox, smokebox saddle and boiler saddles, as well as the centre of his boiler. He also gained black lining on the rear of his tender permanently. File:HeroOfTheRails9.png|Final render File:SteamySodor73.png|Funnel File:JamestotheRescue1.png|Tender File:ThomasandtheSoundsofSodor79.png|Whistle File:MeettheSteamTeamJames32.png|James' render in the twenty-third series James' Twins The Mid-Hants Railway repainted a Southern Railway N Class 2-6-0, No. 31874, into the livery of James. The engine retained this colour scheme for many years and participated in the Railway Series Golden Jubilee celebrations at the National Railway Museum. However, following the withdrawal of the N Class in 1998, the Mid-Hants Railway quickly repainted its cousin-engine, a Southern Railway U Class 2-6-0, No. 31625, into James for the 1999 series. After the withdrawal of the U Class, the N Class reprised its role as James, only wearing a face during Thomas events. However, due to the fact that both of these engines were privately owned, they left the Mid-Hants Railway in 2014. For the Mid-Hants Railway's "Steam Railway" supported gala in September 2012, it was decided to repaint N Class No. 31874 into wartime black to carry its Southern identity of No. 1874; this meant that James no longer appears at the Thomas events at the Watercress Line. However, the repainting of the engine created a stir among railway enthusiasts, who felt that it was wrong to paint a historic main line locomotive in such a garish livery. Nevertheless, the locomotive was popular with the railway's younger visitors. On the East Lancashire Railway, the unrestored LMS 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46428 has been painted as James, although his face only appears during Day Out with Thomas events. Voice Actors * Michael Angelis (Thomas and the Magic Railroad ; original workprints only) * Susan Roman (Thomas and the Magic Railroad) * Keith Wickham (UK, Hero of the Rails - The Great Race, excluding Tit for Tat) * Kerry Shale (US, Hero of the Rails - eighteenth series) * Rob Rackstraw (US; The Adventure Begins onwards - UK; Tit for Tat onwards, excluding remainder of twentieth series and The Great Race) * Sébastien Reding (Thomas and the Magic Railroad) * Fabrice Trojani (France and French speaking Canada; eighth series onwards) * Katsuji Mori (Japan; first - eighth series) * Masashi Ebara (Japan; Calling All Engines! Onwards) * Helge Winther Larsen (Norway; Hero of the Rails - Tale of the Brave) * Paul Ottar Haga (Norway; eighteenth series onwards) * Simone Crisari (Italy) * Gianluca Crisafi (Italy; nineteenth series onwards) * Uranus Huerta (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad) * Eduardo Garza (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad; TV Version) * Mario Castañeda (Latin America; Hero of the Rails onwards; excluding Over the Hill) * Arturo Mercado Jr. (Latin America; Over the Hill only) * Beto Castillo (Latin America; singing voice) * Gustavo Carrillo (Latin America; Hugo and the Airship only; one phrase) * Christian Strempler (Latin America; DC Super Friends ™ San Diego Comic Con Only) * Wanja Gerick (Germany; Thomas and the Magic Railroad) * Tobias Schmidt (Germany, Audio Books and Hero of the Rails onwards, excluding Day of the Diesels) * Waldemar Barwiński (Poland; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Jeremy Luton (The Netherlands) * Asaf Corman (Israel; Thomas and the Magic Railroad) * Gadi Levy (Israel; fifteenth series onwards except Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure) * Gilan Shachaf (Israel; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure only) * Troells Toya (Denmark) * Fabio de Castro (Brazil, Hero of the Rails onwards, fifteenth series only) * Lucas Gama (Brazil, seventeenth series onwards, excluding Tale of the Brave) * Ulisses Bezerra (Brazil; Tale of the Brave only) * Jorge Teixeira (Spain) * Petri Hanttu (Finland; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Gyurik Istvan (Hungary) * Martin Geraskov (Bulgarian) * Olga Kuznetsova (Russia, Hero of the Rails onwards, except Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure) * Anton Savenkov (Russia, The Great Race onwards) * Um Sang-hyun (South Korea) * Roger Storm (Sweden; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Haris Grigoropoulos (Greece; first - fourteenth series) * Loukas Frangoulis (Greece; King of the Railway onwards) References Category:Behind the Scenes Category:Images of James Category:Images from behind the scenes